Trento - September 11, 1786
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Closing the chapter on his past, secretly crossing the Alps under an assumed identity to finally reach Italy translates for Goethe into the realization of a long-held dream: to immerse himself in the fabled Arcadia of the ancients in search of the vestiges of a glorious past. Only the firsthand experience allows him to restore depth and vivid, clear substance to ancient knowledge mediated by history.
Endowed with an authentic naturalistic sensibility, accompanied by genuine botanical, mineralogical, and geological expertise, Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749–1832)—an exceptional fusion of scientific genius and poetic inspiration—stands as the master pillar of German literature in his era and as one of the undisputed giants of the entire European literary scene. His life is a fascinating journey through the peaks of lyric poetry, the depths of theater, and the vastness of prose, with works that still resonate in world culture today.
The journey to Italy in 1786 is the experience that radically transforms his perspective as a man and intellectual. Through the encounter with the serene beauty of the classical world, Goethe embraces a new ideal of intellectual and emotional moderation, transforming his youthful titanism into an “Olympian” and classical approach to life.
In 1815, more than twenty years after that experience, Goethe decides to draw upon the letters, diaries, notes, and sketches produced during his journey, to rework them and set them down in writing, thus arriving at a text that takes shape as a true systematic account—the Italienische Reise (Italian Journey)
The last universal man to walk the earth, as George Eliot defines him, has without any doubt left an indelible imprint.
A beat of wings! and aeons lie behind us. [J.W.Goethe, Urworte. Orphisch /Primal Words. Orphic]
The Aeons, a term so dear to Goethe, in the poet’s writings assume a mystical connotation that transcends existential time to embrace eternity and divine emanations. This concept is splendidly reflected in the culminating words of Faust II:
Then, to the Moment I’d dare say:
«Stay a while! You are so lovely!’
Through aeons, then, never to fade away».
The inestimable legacy of the Dichterfürst (“Prince of Poets”), the mark left by his earthly days, certainly cannot disappear with the passing of aeons, of epochs; indeed, almost two centuries after his death, in the so-called age of the screen, he continues to be an inexhaustible source to draw upon.
"The only pity is, that I cannot at each moment communicate to others my observations."
In 2022, in the "land where the lemon trees bloom," the italian startup SPUN initiated a digital remediation of the Reise.
This is a transmedia, multidisciplinary, and collaborative approach to Goethe's work, where narrative, aesthetics, interaction, and new technologies—AI above all—coexist.
Unreal Goethe – Italienische Reise 4.0 is an ambitious project that, through the collaboration of scholars, writers, artists, and tech specialists, will make accessible to all the legacy of one of the greatest minds in history.
